Star Clusters: New Arrivals (6 page)

“Oh boy...” she said, fully aware of the meaning of this failure. “I’m going to die.”

Two hours later, Hatos was talking to Zeshaira and Lanis in the park about this peculiar development. “Have you tried draining the shield’s power supply?” he inquired.

“Everything we could think of. We even threw her off a
building
when Zeshaira told me it had an inertial dampener installed - but that didn’t do us any good. It must be taking more power from her suit or the Tarhedia’s systems or something - it should have failed ages ago.”

“You say she only feels safe on Petra?”

“That is what she told us; she even has her own shield generator, which she apparently only takes off when she absolutely needs to or when she’s on her homeworld,” Zeshaira said.

“And the generator activated immediately upon placement?”

“Yes.”

“Then I fear the issue is not with the neural interface, but with the mind it is interfacing with. She knows how dangerous her environment can be, so even though she consciously wants to take it off, her subconscious mind is overriding that command. Fear is what prompted her to ask for the generator... and fear is what is keeping her from removing it.”

“Hmm... that gives me an idea,” Lanis said, and ran off to find Fanra. The two Tarhedians looked at each other inquisitively and shrugged.

He found her sitting near the pond in the park. “Fanra,” he gently started. “I just talked to Hatos. He thinks you can’t get rid of this thing because you’re more afraid of getting killed by your surroundings than you are of starvation, and... he’s not going to wait.”

“Not going to wait? For what?”

“He’s decided to drop out of hyperspace at a nearby star and transport you in close enough to get killed by it so they can retrieve the generator.”

The combination of shock and panic was obvious on her face. “He wouldn’t! Would he?”

“I guess he would. I tried to talk him out of it, but all he let me do was go tell you about it.” It took a few moments, but in the end, the shield shut off and Lanis quickly pulled it off her hand, then smiled. “Okay, I need to remember that in case we have another situation like this.”

Fanra felt relieved and slightly confused. “So... this was just a trick? To make me shut it down?”

“Yeah, I thought giving you something concrete to be afraid of - something
caused
by wearing it - might work a lot better and faster than hoping you’ll feel hungry enough to take it off.”

“Thanks, I guess. I should, uh, probably get out of this suit and get something to eat now...” After she said that, she went to find the transporter.

“Yeah...” Lanis silently said to himself, then slipped and fell into the pond again.

Two more hours later, the ship rocked violently as it was torn out of hyperspace near the Terran-Petran border. When Lanis looked up beyond the dome, he saw several Terran fighters fly by - they weren’t in any immediate danger, but if word of their hasty withdrawal from Petra had gotten across the border, which it almost certainly had, then there was a chance that they would find themselves in yet another battle soon enough. He rushed towards the control room.

When he arrived, he saw that Hatos was talking to a Terran admiral on the holoviewer. “And you expect us to believe that you have peaceful intentions when you’re hauling around a Petran fleet
without
prior authorization?” the heavily decorated officer asked Hatos.

“I expect you,” the Tarhedian simply stated, “to be kind enough as to listen to the explanation I have been trying to give before coming to a conclusion.” He noticed Lanis come in behind him, though the surprised looks the two Terrans gave each other eluded him. “Ah, Lanis, this is Rear Admiral Eugene Jackson of the United Systems Navy--”

“We’ve met,” Lanis interrupted him. “Good to see you’re still in one piece, Admiral.”

“The feeling’s mutual, Baltor. Just what have you gotten yourself into?”

“It’s... complicated. I think you should give me a few minutes to explain everything to Hatos before his head spins off his shoulders, though.”

“Alright, but don’t move,” the admiral warned. “I’d hate to have to blast you to bits without a damn good reason.”

“Will do, sir. Tarhedia out.” After a brief pause, Jackson still hadn’t disappeared. “End the transmission, please?” Lanis said to the baffled communications officer. Hatos nodded, and the holoviewer deactivated; Lanis turned towards him.

“Right,” he started, “I’m guessing you’re wondering how I know Jackson and why he’s so worried about the Petrans. Both are long stories, but I’ll try to keep this short. First of all, the Petrans. About a hundred years ago, humanity was as ignorant of the Petrans as the Petrans were of humanity - neither side knew the other existed. They were basically alone in their little fragment of the galaxy. We’d been out there for around 50 years, they had two centuries of experience. Seeing as, thanks to the wormhole, our homeworlds are basically only 144 light years apart, we were bound to run into each other eventually; odds are the only reason we hadn’t done it sooner was because of the unstable nature of hyperspace along the border. Anyway, eventually, 98 and a half years ago, we managed to safely enter the region and colonized the Carthan system. I think that’s where we are right now - somewhere in the neighbourhood, anyway,” he answered Hatos’ unspoken question. “Six months later, the Petrans showed up. It turned out several of the planets in the system were rich in the various minerals the Petrans’ crystalline technology is based on. Of course, since they didn’t really want us around - and they didn’t want to bother with learning our language, either, let alone trade for the minerals - they tried to force us out of the system. Earth retaliated, and we spent the better part of the following ninety years fighting for these border worlds; our historians call the period the ‘Carthan Wars’ - I guess that’s just proof of how unimaginative they can be at times.”

“Where do the Xargans fit into your story?” Hatos asked, taking advantage of the pause.

“Some twelve years ago, the Petrans held Cartha and most of our worlds along the Petran border, when a large fleet of ‘space monsters’, as they called them - they hadn’t identified themselves as Xargans yet - wiped out Petran outposts near Cartha Six, Daserus Two, Holsen Prime, and a few other worlds along the ‘southern’ edge of the border, closer to where you found me in the Anlaran system. Now, because they only hit the Petrans, they thought we were using some new bioweapon against them, so they fought back even harder. But, eventually the Xargans hit us, too - ripped through our forces in the Lieproi system, which, funnily enough, happened to be the only Petran system we held at that time. Somebody figured out what was going on, so the Terran and Petran forces united to push them back. We’ve managed to take back most of the systems we lost to them since then, but as I explained to you back at Anlara, they’re not exactly losing steam - and if the Petrans pull their forces out of this, we may very well be overrun.”

“And what about Jackson? How do the two of you know each other?”

“I was getting to that part. Some officers on both sides will sometimes ask for help from nearby civilians. Eugene Jackson’s the one who’s had more luck with it than others; he’s a good tactician, good negotiator, and he isn’t unwilling to bend his orders - or the rules - if it means saving lives. I’ve run into him a few times, and it’s mostly been good. Honestly, if I were making a list of people I’d trust with my life, he’d be pretty high on it. The problem is, Jackson won’t outright disobey orders, and because he’s a veteran of the Carthan Wars, he’s a bit distrustful of Petrans. Still, if he hasn’t been explicitly ordered to stop us, and if he hasn’t been compromised, we
might
be able to get out of this without a fight.”

“Perhaps you should explain the situation to him - he may be more willing to accept it coming from someone he knows than if he heard it from a Tarhedian.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Lanis turned to the comm officer. “Hail them,” he said, turning towards the holoviewer.

Jackson appeared on the screen a few seconds later. “So, is one of you going to explain what that ship of yours is, who your friends are, or why you’ve got all those Petran ships with you?” he asked.

“Well, sir, it’s quite a long story. It started about a week ago, when I took on a job to transport some supplies to…
somebody
… in the Anlaran asteroid belt. Aside from the part where I had to sneak behind Xargan lines and back again, it looked like a routine cargo run.”

*** Five days ago, Anlaran system ***

The Ivory Eagle dropped out of hyperspace and entered the asteroid belt, maneuvering to the coordinates Lanis’ employer had given him. The dense nature of that particular asteroid belt meant that reaching his destination would not be easy, and there would probably be some Xargans in the area.

Lanis opened a communications channel. “This is the Ivory Eagle. I’ve got your cargo,” he said, “but I can’t see you on my sensors. Please respond.” After about ten seconds had passed, he spoke again. “Repeat, this is the freighter Ivory Eagle. I have your cargo, but I do not see you on my sensors. Please respond.” The response was not at all what he was hoping for; the ship shook as Xargan projectiles impacted its unshielded hull and a small group of Xargans emerged from the asteroid field. “Damn it!” He powered up the shields and weapons and took evasive action. “This is the Terran freighter Ivory Eagle to any ships in the area; I am under attack from Xargan forces and need immediate assistance. I repeat, the Terran freighter Ivory Eagle is being attacked by Xargans!”

*** Present day, Tarhedia ***

“How did you get out of there?” Jackson inquired.

“Well, the Xargan ambush definitely damaged the ship, but all the fights I’ve been in against them made it a lot easier for me to figure out what I was up against - and once that was done, I could try to use the asteroids and the Xargans’ own weapons against them. Besides, the Eagle’s got a few surprises in it; let’s just say dropping explosives in a dense asteroid field is bound to cause problems even for things as small and maneuverable as Xargan swarmers.”

******

As the Eagle dodged asteroids and Xargan projectiles alike, it released a bomb, which quickly detonated against one of the roaming asteroids, causing a movement in the asteroids which crushed several of the fragile, high-speed Xargans before they could react. The remaining two creatures kept bombarding him, though - and the shields had just failed. “I repeat, I am being attacked by Xargans and need immediate assistance!” The next bomb killed the Xargans - but it also sent several smaller rocks at the Eagle’s engines and communications array; the ship, having been on a course out of the asteroid field and close to the edge, drifted out. Lanis was stranded.

About a day later, Lanis had managed to repair the sublight engines; the hyperdrive, however, had taken too much damage in the initial attack. It, like the comm system, would have to be replaced - or fixed at a properly-equipped spacedock at the very least. Fortunately, contrary to his expectations, no Xargans had arrived to finish the job - and now, the Eagle’s sensors were picking up a massive ship nearby. As far as he could tell, it wasn’t Xargan; perhaps if he could get to it before it left the system, its crew would take him to a friendly starport. If they didn’t kill him first, that is.

******

Lanis continued telling his story, providing a detailed account of his landing on the Tarhedia and the events that led to its arrival here. “So what you’re saying,” Jackson asked when the story was over, “is that the Petran government has been infiltrated by these new Xargans?”

“That’s the thing - we don’t know it’s just the Petrans. There was at least one of those things on the Tarhedia
before
we landed - must have been a stowaway on the Eagle - and I’m guessing I met up to half a dozen spies during my time on Petra. For all I know, you might be one of them too; the only way we can know for sure is if we test you, and it’s far from impossible that they’ll figure out how to get around whatever tests we came up with.”

“I take it you’ve already tested everybody in your fleet?”

“Indeed we have, Admiral,” Hatos answered, “But as Lanis said, we cannot be completely certain that the tests we have devised are accurate. Nonetheless, if the Terran chain of command has been equally compromised, it may be too late to prevent a war. As your own stance on the Petrans and Lanis’ explanation of the Carthan Wars suggest, if the conflict is reignited, it is possible that it will not end until it is too late.”

Jackson’s expression suddenly changed from that of an intrigued tactician to that of someone who had just realized he was doing something terribly wrong. “Then we have to do something,” he finally decided. “I’ll consult the other admirals and the US Council, see what can be done; you should give us the data required to test for Xargan infiltration so we can deal with that before any actual decisions are made.”

“We are transferring all the information we have gathered and instructions for running the tests to you now,” Hatos said.

“Good. Hopefully we can defuse this situation…” The transmission ended; Lanis and Hatos could only hope they had made the right choice.

Chapter 4

Insurrection

It had been several hours since Lanis and Hatos finished their lengthy discussion with Admiral Jackson when Lanis went into the park again. A lot of the Petran ships were now being manned by skeleton crews as the majority of the Petrans went aboard the Tarhedia to wait in a more relaxing environment. Most of them were passively avoiding the one Terran in the area - habitually or because they actually disliked Terrans, depending on the person.

There were, however, exceptions - and Lanis soon found himself in the company of Dr. Fanra Kaa’nt and Lt. Commander Benaar Herrun, the two Petrans he had boarded the Petran hyperspace disruptor at Hemreus with. “Well, look who finally decided to come down and relax,” Herrun said.

“I hope I haven’t kept you waiting,” Lanis answered jokingly.

“Heh,
somebody
has to look after Fanra - poor kid’s afraid of her own shadow,” the Petran soldier commented. “It’s no wonder she messed up as much as she did on the station.”

“Well,” Fanra noted, “I did manage to fix some of the problems I created.”

Despite her comment, it was clear to Lanis that she was more than a little disturbed by the whole thing, and Herrun certainly wasn’t helping. “That you did,” he said encouragingly to the timid scientist before turning to Herrun. “Herrun, is Captain Poteran down here?” he asked.

“Don’t know,” Herrun said. “I’ll check.” If he had figured out the intent behind Lanis’ question, he did not say a word; Fanra and Lanis were now alone.

“You shouldn’t let it get to you like that,” Lanis told her. “People make mistakes all the time; what matters is that nobody got hurt, and at least you know where you went wrong.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. It’s just that…” She sighed. “How do you do it? Control your fear, that is.”

“Knowing something or someone you care about depends on it helps a bit, I guess. Think about what’ll happen if you don’t stay in control, not about whatever
might
happen if you try to do something. I’m not actually sure whether your intelligence is a good thing or not in situations where your own life depends on, say, fighting back; on one hand, being smart means you’re more likely to understand that doing nothing will get you killed, but on the other hand, it also means you could just freeze up, trying to figure out what’s the best thing to do.”

“That’s easy enough to solve,” Kaa’nt observed.

“Theoretically, yes; but people like you will probably fail to stop it and act before it’s too late. In situations like that, you either have to think fast enough to find the right choice, or you have to force yourself not to think as much as you usually would, which isn’t easy. But unless you’ve got a supercomputer in that head of yours, I strongly recommend the latter.” He paused. “I guess it also helps to be borderline crazy, like Herrun,” he added jokingly.

Fanra couldn’t help but smile at that. “I think he’s trying to help, though - in his own way, that is.”

“Probably,” he said when his wrist comlink beeped. He tapped it. “Baltor here, what is it?”

“Jackson just hailed us; I think you should come here,” Hatos said.

“I’m on my way,” he answered, heading towards the control room. Once he arrived, he saw that Hatos, Poteran and Jackson were discussing whatever situation it was that had prompted the latter to contact the Tarhedians. “What’s going on?”

“Several star systems are trying to break away from the US,” Jackson answered. “A few others are experiencing planet-wide revolts, undoubtedly caused by Xargan infiltrators. Fortunately, we’ve had no trouble with the Petrans yet. It’s probably just around the corner, though.”

“I don’t get it - why aren’t the Xargans going all-in, causing every conflict they can all at once?” Lanis observed.

“Perhaps they do not think it is necessary - or strategically sound,” Hatos noted.

“Well,” Jackson said, “whatever their master plan is, we need to figure it out; not to mention that we have to fix the problems they’ve already caused. I’ll do what I can on my end, see if I can’t work something out with the US, but somebody has to deal with the Xargans in the Petran government
and
figure out their endgame.”

“I think my people will respond best to other Petrans working independently to reveal and remove the infiltrators,” Poteran suggested. “That’d still leave the Tarhedians and Mister Baltor here to put the pieces of the puzzle together.”

“Actually, I believe the Tarhedia would be far too conspicuous for the sort of investigation that we may have to conduct. It would be better if we attempted to enter a dialogue with the United Systems Council, independently of Admiral Jackson’s efforts,” Hatos proposed.

“Hold on, isn’t the Eagle in the Tarhedia’s fighter bay? I thought I saw it when I was getting into a fighter back in the Petran system,” Lanis asked.

“Yes, but it is still badly damaged; we cannot repair it without making our actions obvious,” Hatos replied.

“Yeah, but we’re not exactly far from a Terran shipyard anymore, and the Petrans can help out. Sending me out there alone is too risky, but a small team using a refitted Eagle as a base could get to the bottom of this.”

“Good idea,” Jackson said. “I’ll forward some recommendations for the team while the ship’s being fixed.”

“Actually, sir, I think diversity could be a valuable asset here. We’ve got three different species working together, each with their distinct technological and biological advantages; if we form a diverse team, like the one that boarded the Hemreus hyperspace disruptor, we might be able to get a lot farther than we would otherwise,” Lanis recommended.

“Zeshaira’s skills would likely be better put to use with such an assignment than in my negotiations,” Hatos admitted.

“If there’s anyone in my fleet that could be useful, it’s probably Herrun and Kaa’nt. Herrun might seem a bit crazy at times, but that could prove useful - and Fanra’s scientific and technical prowess speaks for itself, even if she
is
next to useless in a combat situation,” Poteran added.

“Well, that’s quite a bit of variety; even if it wasn’t, I doubt it’d be a good idea to go with too many people. I’m thinking we should keep the spaceframe as it is, only modifying the internal components and adding new systems using Petran and Tarhedian technology in conjunction with our own; it’d be as inconspicuous as we can get without sacrificing any technological advantage we might have.”

“I’ll reserve a hangar with all the crew you need to fix and refit your ship,” Jackson finally said. “Poteran, Hatos, I think you should both use every trick you can think of to boost that thing’s efficiency; they’ll need it.” After saying that, Jackson’s ship stopped transmitting, and the image of the Hippasrus’ bridge now expanded to the whole holoviewer.

“The refit will probably take some time, but I’ll have Kaa’nt see what she can do about growing some crystals for your engines, shields, and weapons,” Poteran said. “Right now, your repair crews should focus on repairing the parts of the ship that we
can’t
replace with crystals without growing a new ship from scratch. Is there anything else you’d like to discuss?”

Lanis shook his head. “No, I do not believe so,” Hatos said.

“Very well. Hippasrus out.” The holoviewer switched off.

Hatos turned to Lanis. “I believe my people’s best technological contributions here will be our drones and transporter technology; I will have a few drones and other useful devices stored in one of your cargo bays, and install a small transporter in another one.”

“Remember,” Lanis said, “we have to stay relatively inconspicuous. Try to conceal the upgrades from sensors as much as you can.”

“I will see to it that the modifications are as hard to detect as possible - but it will not be fully effective.”

“I know.”

In the meantime, most of Jackson’s fleet had jumped to hyperspace in various directions, including his flagship, the U.S.S. Orion. On the Orion’s bridge, the admiral was deep in thought as the ship sped silently through hyperspace; how severe was this infiltration, and how could it be stopped?

“Helm, how long until we reach the Menlon system?” he asked after a while. The Menlon system was a small four-planet system about seven and a half hundred light years from Cartha, on the far side of Terran space; now that Menlon Four was in a state of open rebellion, Jackson had been ordered to take a small force there and calm things down.

“Forty-five hours,” the helmsman replied. Even with a hyperspace factor of 4.17, the Orion and its fleet would take just under two days to traverse the distance between Menlon and Cartha.

Jackson sighed. “So many things to do, and so little time…”

******

On the Tarhedia, Lanis had very few things he could do while he waited for the Ivory Eagle to be refitted. Finally, something occurred to him. Ever since Hatos had explained the unusual nature of his boots to him, he had been somewhat fascinated by the sharp contrast - and similarities - between them and the Xargans. However, more important matters and forgetfulness had kept him from pursuing the matter further; neither of which were an issue anymore. He walked through the park, looking for the Tarhedian leader - and eventually finding him; near the pond he had already fallen into twice before.

“Hatos,” he started, “I just thought of something. Can we use the Tarhedia’s facilities and the Terran database to determine where these boots came from?”

“Perhaps. If any traces existed, they would certainly be subtle, but that does not necessarily mean they would not be detectable. What do you expect to find?”

“I don’t know; probably some clue as to what the connection between them and the Xargans is.”

“I have been considering this as well; in fact, I had already prepared a lab and was going to ask you in a few minutes when you arrived. It is most likely that the two share a common ancestor - perhaps the boots were genetically altered by some ancient race while the Xargans evolved from the boots’ unaltered ancestors.”

“Well, whatever it is, it might be worth investigating.”

“Precisely. Follow me,” the Tarhedian said, leading Hatos into one of the Tarhedia’s science facilities; the boots spent the next couple of hours being thoroughly analyzed, with any foreign substances being searched for in every database the Tarhedia had access to.

“There,” Hatos said once the analysis was complete, pointing at a sudden change in a holographic diagram displaying various changes in environment as detected and interpreted by the ship’s computer. “As far as I can tell, the boots seem to have been on a planet listed in the database as ‘Daserus Three’ until a period roughly fifteen years ago, when it switches to what seems to be one or more Terran ships and possibly stations. After that, the boots spend most of the following ten years on Earth - until the day you left Earth with them.”

“Wait, did you say Daserus Three?”

“Yes; I think I know what you are thinking about. Daserus Two was one of the worlds you said had first been attacked by the Xargans.”

“They wiped out everything in the system, but based on this data, the majority of their hive clusters was concentrated in an area near an archaeological site on Daserus Three; nobody found it unusual at the time, as the location was quite defensible.”

“And you believe this was not an accident?”

“Think about it; if you found out that some alien race had tampered with some of your ancestors, wouldn’t you try to figure out what happened to their descendants? There might even have been something vital to their plans there; we could find out just what they’re after, and more importantly, what they’re trying to do.”

“If this is true, then it is possible that there may have been other sites in some of the other systems attacked by the initial wave of Xargans.” Upon saying that, Hatos quickly searched the database for planets matching his criteria. “Yes… Holsen Seven, Cartha Three, and Lieproi Five were also planets believed to have been inhabited by the race whose ruins were found on Daserus Three. Not military bases, but the Xargans chose to wipe out everything in their respective systems, which made you believe it was a direct assault. Even if it is one now, they may have been looking for the ruins when your peoples offered themselves as an alternative target.”

“Cartha Three, you say? I think it’s time for a field trip…”

Soon, Hatos, Zeshaira, Lanis, Herrun, and several Tarhedian drones of varying purposes and appearances assembled in the transporter room. “This planet is somewhat inhospitable,” Hatos said, finishing putting on his AEA suit, “due to its proximity to its star; this could be beneficial as less people will have disturbed the site since the Xargans left. However, there may be some Xargans down there that have avoided detection, so be on your guard.”

The transporter activated; the team reappeared just outside a cave on the arid third world of the Carthan system, in the middle of a sandstorm. “I don’t see any ruins!” Herrun said.

“Are you sure you got the right coordinates?” Lanis asked Hatos.

“Yes; we must be missing something!” he explained.

“Perhaps it is hidden within?” Zeshaira suggested, pointing at the cave. Everyone went inside; but the cave was a small one, and there seemed to be no technology in it.